Dramatic Changes
by Bitch Please Xx
Summary: Synne is a good girl. But when her dad enrolls her in Coates Academy, where bullies like Drake Merwin, Caine Soren and Benno rule the school, you have to be a rebel to survive. Can Synne change from a little angel into a little rebel when she's been this way so long? And will she be able to win the affection of the biggest bully of all?
1. Synne Richards

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Gone. Or any of Michael Grant's characters, Drake, Diana, Caine, Bug, Jack, Dekka and Brianna. If I did I wouldnt be here. I'd be planing to write another twenty books for the series. **

**A/N: ummm this is my first fanfic and it may not be any good but please please review. Sorry if the chapter's too short, it's basically just an intro. The next chapter will be way longer. I'll probably make plenty of mistake but I'll try to keep that to a minimum. Hope you like. **

** Xx**

Chapter 1:

Synne wasn't troublesome. She did well in school, didn't argue a lot, dressed appropriately and never swore. She didn't break rules, she wasn't an angry girl, she was clever and pretty, with a sweet smile and twinkling green eyes that were the colour of well cared-for grass. She had long, thick hair that fell in waves to about mid-back. It was a light brown-mousey blonde colour, and it stayed up in a very pretty, but still practical, bun.  
She didn't go overboard with accessories; she wore one necklace, one ring and four hairpins. The necklace was a silver chain with a crucifix and a steel military dog-tag on it. On the dog-tag the words 'somnes nos in infernum eat', meaning 'we all go to hell' were engraved, her one touch of rebelliousness. The ring was a simple brass band, the same ring her mother had been wearing when the massive Peterbilt 379 Grain Truck had slammed into her green Nissan Micra, ending her life.  
Synne wore the hairpins every day. They were the pins her Aunt Florentine had put in her hair to hold it in perfect little coils for the funeral. Those pins, along with the ring, were the only things that she had allowed herself to keep, the only reminders of what she had lost that she could bear.  
After Dahlie's death Synne had retreated into herself, changing from the fun loving, rebellious, mischievous teen into a quiet, sad eyed, lost child. Her father had spent four months coaxing her out of her shell, bringing the twinkle back into her vacant eyes and, slowly, she had become a friendly, studious little angel. Until her father enrolled her in Coates Academy, a boarding school for 'troublesome children'...


	2. First Thing

Chapter 2:

Grant Richards was a kind father and he loved Synne as much as he'd loved her mother. He did his best to help her and to care for her, but he was an extremely busy man. Grant was the holder of one of the highest paying jobs in a business that had just begun to bloom. Unfortunately his position also required him to move around a lot, and often he'd been forced to leave Synne and her mother for months at a time, something he couldn't do since Dahlie's death. While Synne had, by all appearances, moved on from her loss, Grant still worried about her, and didn't want to force her to continuously live in motels and change schools constantly. She needed to settle down, have a real life, not just get dragged all over the globe or stay home alone for the extended periods of time his work required him to be away for. She needed to get an uninterrupted education, have somewhere to live, be free to make friends and not worry about leaving them. She needed a boarding school.

After the funeral Grant and his daughter had returned to Dahlie's hometown, Perdido Beach, to collect some memoirs and to escape work and try to get rid of the sadness that had plagued them both. They spent four months there, slowly returning to normal, slowly regaining their smiles and recounting the best moments they remembered sharing with Dahlie. It was there, in the little town by the beach, that Grant decided to enrol his only daughter in Coates Academy.

On Monday, at exactly fifteen minutes to eight, a silver BMW glided up the driveway to Coates Academy, stopping a few meters away from the wrought iron gates that stood between the school and the outside world. Grant apologised for the sixth time for not being able to walk Synne up to the main office, planted a kiss on her forehead and waited for her to grab her bags before sped off back the way he'd come, rushing to the nearest airport so as not to miss his flight to London.

With a sigh of disappointment, Synne walked up to the tall, imposing gates, noticing that they had been shaped into the Coates emblem. She gave them a rattle and, finding them unlocked, pushed them open and strode purposefully through. She walked past the carpark that was filled with SUVs and past a meticulously weeded, well manicured garden, right up to the main office.

The door swung open without a sound -obviously well oiled- revealing a rich blue carpet, creamy walls and a row of three dark brown leather seats. Opposite the door she had just entered was a large window, two meters across and one meter against the window, in a small room on the other side, was dark mahogany desk, neater even than Grant's. Papers were laid out tidily, pens and pencils sat on one corner and an old fashioned telephone rested on the other. Next to the cup of writing implements was a metal triangular prism and embossed on one side was the name Miss Trist. Sitting at the desk, in a black pencil skirt and a crisp white blouse, was a receptionist. Miss Trist -as Synne assumed she was named- had curly brown hair, pulled back into a very businessy bun. She wore reading glasses with black rims and had a silver watch on her left wrist. Those were her only accessories. Miss Trist's appearance was very sharp, from her clothing to her facial features. Her lips were thin and turned down slightly at the corners, giving her a very serious look.

Miss Trist was so engrossed in whatever she was writing that Synne had to cough four times before the receptionist looked up.

"Hello," she said, when she finally noticed her, "My name is Synne Estelle Richards, I was told to arrive at eight this morning to start school."

"You're early," came the reply, "as of yet I have not been able to complete your timetable. I will give you the times, teachers, and room numbers of your first two lessons and you may retrieve your completed timetable at recess. If you would be so kind as to take a seat over there," she paused, sweeping her hand in the direction of the three leather chairs, "your roommate will be here soon to escort you to your room. That will be room 12D."

Synne accepted the sheet of paper that Miss Trist was holding out at her and walked to the seats, sitting in the middle one. She pulled her iPod out of her pocket and keyed in her passcode; tapped the music icon and scrolled through the playlists. 0n3. That was the name of the one she was mainly Mayday Parade, they were her favourites for that month. There were a few Lil Wayne songs as well: Ground Zero, Hot Revolver, Revolver, Prom Queen, Da Da Da, American Star, running and How to Lil Wayne came Pierce the Veil, followed by He is We.

She'd finished listening to 'The Silence' and 'Everythings an Illusion' by Mayday Parade and had skipped to a Pierce the Veil song by the time someone came to get her. Synne felt someone's presence and looked up to see who it was. The first thing she noticed was the hair. It was waist length and blonde. Not bleach blonde, not dark blonde, it was a light gold colour, like corn or straw. The girl she was looking at had light blue eyes, rimmed by light eyelashes that had been magnified and darkened by mascara. The lips were curled upward slightly and were a deep pinkish red. This girl was definitely pretty. She was also definitely giving Synne a similar appraisal. Synne watched the girl examine her, slightly amused that she seemed happy with what she was seeing.

"Hi." Synne said, wanting to end the silence that was starting to make her uncomfortable.

"Hey," the other girl replied "I'm Tiffani Sabbantine. You'll be rooming with me in 12D. Come on, I'll show you where it is and help you find your next two classes."

Synne smiled removed her headphones, got up, pocketed her iPod and followed Tiffani through a side door and into a corridor. They went past about twenty rooms before turning a corner and exiting the building, heading toward a long, barracks-like building which had thirty two windows and sixteen doors and was made of yellow bricks.

"This is where the girls' dorms are," said Tiffani, "the guys' are on the other side, through the garden. This," she indicated the twelfth door, "is our dorm. It's basically six rooms: there's the entry, which is just a tiny, plain room,straight ahead of that is the ensuite and on either side are two bedrooms."

The room that Synne was to share with Tiffani was one of the two that had windows. The window looked out on the main building of the school and the gates. She could also see the garden and half of the carpark. The room had pale pink walls and three single beds each with a frame of steel, painted light yellow and the covers were a pretty shade of pale green. The bed nearest the window had purple pillows on it, giving it away as belonging to Tiffani, as it was the only bed who's pillows had cases.

Tiffani flopped down on her bed, waiting for Synne to unpack and set up. Synne pulled out the pillow cases she'd packed first, purple like Tiffani's, but a lighter shade. Then she got out her neatly folded pyjamas, short grey cotton shorts and a baggy fluorescent green jumper. Those she placed on her bed. Then she looked at the paper that Miss Trist had given her.

English. Room 16. Miss Addison.

8:00History. Room 7. Mr Ball. 9:00

She felt someone behind her and looked up to see that Tiffani was looking over her shoulder. "Hmm," Tiffani said, looking thoughtful, "I'm in room 15 first so I won't be in your class, but I can walk you there and introduce you to a friend if you want. I'm in Room seven history as well so we can sit together, before you meet my friend, though, I'm gonna have to give you a few pointers."

Synne wasn't sure how to reply, so she settled for a simple "Thanks."

"First off, we're going to have to remake you. I have just the style in mind. Follow me" and with that Tiffani disappeared into the bathroom, grinning in anticipation.

After a moment's hesitation Synne followed, worried and excited about what Tiffani had planned. One thing was for sure, Tiffani was to make sure Synne walked out of that bathroom looking like a completely different person, and the weird thing was; Synne was completely happy with that.


	3. Meet 'n' Greet

Chapter 3:

Tiffani's POV

Tiffani smiled as she pushed the last hairpin into place. Synne had refused to go without them, and the same applied to the ring and the necklace too. This hadn't posed a problem as the necklace was stylish and the ring, while not beautiful and shiny, was far from the worst accessory Tiffani had ever seen.  
She waited anxiously for a reaction as Synne looked at herself in the mirror without giving away what she was thinking. Then suddenly she grinned.  
"Oh. My. Gosh." Synne's eyes were wide and sparkly as she said it. "I look... Beautiful." as she she said it she reached up to where the hairpins held part of her hair back while the rest of it tumbled in ringlets down her back and shoulders. "Thank-you."  
Tiffani almost didn't hear Synne say the word at an almost-whisper, but she did, and it filled her with joy. If this was the reaction she got when Synne herself saw how gorgeous she was, Tiff couldn't wait to see how Synne reacted when the others saw her. She really was gorgeous when someone put in the effort to bring it out. Synne would fit in perfectly with the popular girls. But Reana might be a problem...

Synne's POV

"So," Tiffani said as they walked to room 16, "Do you remember everything I told you?"  
Synne frowned for a second, trying to think of all the rules, before answering, "1: Don't sit in the first two rows of seats,

2: Don't look like I'm paying attention when the teacher talks,

3: Don't chat with the teacher or talk about work,

4: Listen to music with at least one headphone for the whole class"  
(originally rule four had been 'text people and check your phone at regular intervals' but the punishment for getting caught with a phone in class was confiscation for two days, Synne would be able to get away with headphones if she pretended they weren't plugged into anything)

Tiffani smiled and nodded and as they neared the class the smile grew into a her gaze, Synne noticed a group of three guys heading towards the same class.

The one on the left was small and scrawny, with a mean face resembling a rat's he had stringy, oily brown hair and a rattail. The one on the right was a little bit better looking, with bleach-blonde hair and deep brown eyes. His face would have been handsome were it not for the jagged scar that ran on an angle from the corner of his left eyebrow to his cheek bone, before changing direction and running down to the corner of his mouth. His left eye was slightly lower than his right and the left corner of his mouth dragged down about a centimetre, giving him a permanent ugly grimace.

As noticeable as the blondie was, it was the guy in the middle that caught her attention, and it was him that Tiffani was grinning at. As Tiffani rushed to give this guy a hug, Synne took the opportunity to thoroughly examine him. He had relatively muscular arms and dark blue eyes that were sparkling with joy at seeing Tiffani. His hair dark brown hair was cut shortish at the sides and about half an inch longer on the rest. He had a big diamond stud in his left ear and a piercing in his right eyebrow, and Synne was beginning to feel jealous of Tiffani.

Just as she realised that, Tiffani turned around, breaking her free of her thoughts, and introduced them.  
The ratty guy's name was Merrick, the scarred one was Kyle and the hot one's name was Benno. Benno was Tiffani's boyfriend of two years and was the leader of the three. As it turned out, Benno's trio was one of the most powerful groups of Guys and it was this group that gave Tiffani and her friends power. Apparently there were another two guys that hung out with Benno, but they were in an 'all-day detention' for something.

After Tiffani had explained all this Synne half smiled at the guys and raised her eyebrow; they were giving her an examination, taking her in from head to toe. "Like what you're seeing?" she asked, only half joking.  
"As a matter of fact, we do." Kyle, the blondie, answered  
"Good, because if you're in this class every week, it looks like you'll be seeing a lot of me." she said, flirting to cover up how uncomfortable the attention was making her. It worked. Kyle winked and Benno smiled friendlily. ((yes, it's a word, autocorrect says so))

Only Tiffani seemed to notice her discomfort, so she changed the subject, asking if they had plans for lunch. She shot Tiffani a smile, mouthing the word "Thank-you." Just as loud music started playing through a speaker right over their heads and people started drifting down the corridor.  
"Well, that's the bell." said Tiffani as she hugged Benno again, planting a kiss on his cheek, "I'll be right over there," she informed Synne, indicating the room right across from them, "See you in History, Synne."

Synne smiled and waved at her friend before turning around to see that the teacher was unlocking the door. Benno beckoned her over, closer to the door, explaining that if she wanted a good seat she had to get in quick. The door opened and the teacher walked in. Benno gestured for Synne to enter first, telling as she passed to sit in the back row, then he Kyle and Merrick blocked the door until she'd reached her seat.

As soon as she'd sat down and put her books on the desk the guys entered after her, picking seats in the same row (Benno on her right, Merrick next to him and Kyle on her left) and she realised why they'd blocked the door. Almost everyone rushed to get in, pushing, yelling and punching. A handful of nerdy-looking people waited impatiently, anxious looks on their faces.  
"Is it always like this?" Synne enquired, shocked.  
Benno shrugged, smiling at her shock. "Pretty much."  
"Wow. Thanks you for, well, you know..."  
He just smiled and opened a notebook, tearing out a page, as the teacher began to call the roll. Benno wrote something down on on the page before passing it to her.

_-I think Kyle's into you-_

__She read it quickly, scrawled down her reply, and passed it back, waiting as he read it. He smiled and shook his head before writing a reply.

_-Nah, don't worry. If he's going to ask anyone out it'll be Brianna,he's liked her for ages.-_

She smiled, relieved before she wrote down a question -Is she in here?-  
Benno nodded and pointed to a girl on the far right in the row in front of them. She had brown hair, tied up in a ponytail. Synne shrugged at Benno as the teacher called her name. "Here." she replied, making sure to look bored.  
Benno wrote on the paper.

_-So, what did you do to get sent here?-_

She got out her headphones and put in the left one before scrawling down a few notes on what Miss Addison was saying (she didnt want to fail) and then writing an answer

_-Dad wanted me to settle down instead of moving house and school every few months so he thoughthe'd send me to a boarding school. Coates is rightnear where Mum, him and me used to ?-_

He skimmed over it and wrote a reply, grinning as he did so.

_-Got in a few too many fights, got expelled from a few too many schools-_

They continued to pass notes back and forth, Synne occasionally scribbling down notes and changing the songs she listen to. The rest of the hour passed quickly and soon the bell was ringing.  
Tiffani met Synne outside and, blowing a kiss at Benno, linked arms with Synne and walked to room seven. When they got there they found that half the class was already there, crowding around the door, pushing and jostling as they waited for the teacher. Tiffani reached out and tapped the nearest person to her on the shoulder. A guy with strawberry-blonde hair and freckles turned to face her, snarling and looking for a moment as if he was about to yell something. Then the moment passed as realisation dawned on face and, seeing that it was Tiffani he was facing he promptly shook another guy's shoulder. This guy did the same thing as the first, looking angry before he saw Tiffani, and the class continued on like this until everyone had stopped and was looking at Tiffani and the other girl expectantly. More people arrived and watched as well until Tiffani spoke.  
"Excuse me." Those two words were all it took to have class scrambling over each other again, only this time, instead of trying to get at the door, they were moving away from it, making a clear path for Tiffani, and for the unknown girl who had obviously been adopted into Tiffani's group. The teacher arrived and unlocked the door, motioning for everyone to enter, but they all waited, letting Tiffani and the other girl enter before they resumed their struggles, only the geeks standing aside to wait.

Synne's Pov  
The teacher was already at his desk, reading, when Synne entered, heading for the back row. He looked up as she passed him and frowned slightly before his expression cleared and he nodded to himself.  
"Hello," he said, "You must be the newest addition to our school. Synne, yes?"  
"Yes." she replied with a slight smile.  
"Well, I hope you enjoy your time here and don't get in trouble." and with that he went back to his book.  
Synne went and sat down in the seat that Tiffani had saved for her and settled in for an hour of note passing, note taking and listening to music.

*************

After picking up her finished timetable from Miss Trist, the receptionist, Synne went with Tiffani to the cafeteria to meet the rest of 'the girls'. Tiffani pointed at the table they were going to, giving Synne a chance to examine the people that she would be sitting with four times a day. There were four of them. One with long, luscious dark brown hair, one with a short red bob, one with hair that was cut in layers and dyed rainbow and one the same bleach-blonde hair as Kyle. That was all she had time to notice, because at that moment something slammed into her, knocking her onto her stomach on an unoccupied table. Instant reflexes kicked in and, without thought, she slammed her hands onto the table, pushing off just keeping her face from hitting it.  
Something clattered to the ground, curses filled the air and Synne stood, dusted herself off, and looked to see what had happened. She saw a tray on the ground, it's contents scattered everywhere. She raised her eyes from the ground to find out what was up with all the swearing.  
Two guys stood a few meters away, yelling and cussing, the taller one getting right up in the face of the other. And then the short one started laughing hysterically and the tall one shook his head, grinning ruefully.  
It was the tall one who turned first, facing Synne with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry," he said, "Dipstick over here thought it would be a good idea to trip me over. I'm Chase by the way, that's Johnston." he turned to indicate the shorter guy and rolled his eyes before turning back to Synne and smiling and asking, "And who might you be?"  
She opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything Tiffani cut in. "This is Synne Richards, the newest addition to Coates and to our group. I know you're glad to meet her and she's glad to meet you and blah blah blah," with this she grabbed Synne's arms and, without so much as breath, continued to drag Synne away, still speaking as she did so. "...And whatever you do, DON'T upset Reana. That's the one with the rainbow hair. If she thinks you're a threat she can have you in all-day detentions for months. She's our connection to the headmistress, Grace. They're not related or anything, but her dad is one of the biggest suppliers of funds to the school."  
Synne just nodded, she hadn't been planning to upset anyone in the first place so she wasn't particularly worried. Tiffani sat down next to the one called Reana, leaving a space next to her for Synne. Synne sat down and smiled at the girl across from her, the one with brown hair, and introduced herself. The girl smiled and told Synne that her name was Andamaina, meaning beautiful in Telugu, she said that here people just called her Maine. The name definitely suited her. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown and her lips were full and smiling. Her nose was dainty looking, without making her look weak or fragile. Her eyebrows were well-shaped too. Her skin was a few shades darker than olive and, overall she looked like an exotic queen.  
The girl next to her was gorgeous too, making Synne wonder how these girls could want anything to do with her- until she remembered Tiffani's handiwork that morning. The girl with the red bob, Faith according to Tiffani, had green-grey eyes. She was taller than Reana, but not as tall as Andamaina, she had a sweet smile, but there was a strength hidden beneath it, this girl would fight for what she believed in. Synne thought that if she had been able to choose which group she'd met first and befriended, it definitely would have been this one.

***************

As the girls made conversation, Benno, Kyle and Merrick came over, along with Chase and Johnston. They sat down on Synne's other side, Chase taking the seat next to hers. When there was a brief pause in the conversation Tiffani leaned over and whispered to Synne "Chase is checking you out." with a giggle. Synne turned and found that he was indeed, but, rather than getting embarrassed and looking away, he grinned and winked at her. Synne laughed and realised that the attention wasn't making her uncomfortable; he was shockingly attractive. He had hair in a similar style to Benno's with sides about a centimeter long and the rest about an inch, his hair was jet black and his eyes were bright green, like an overly edited photo of moss. He looked pretty well-muscled as well, and the Coates uniform gave him a sharp, clean edge. As started to talk to her about various teachers Synne noticed Reana glaring at her out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't until the day had ended and she was lying in bed that she realised she had done the one thing Tiffani had warned her not to; she'd upset Reana...


	4. Girl of nightmaresboy of dreams p1

**A/N**

**Dear Guest, the one who reviewed my first chapter. **

**Thankyou for your constructive criticism I appreciate your efforts to make Fanfiction an entertaining place for everyone. I must,however, contradict you. While the first chapter was, indeed, a description of the main character, that in no way ensures that the rest of the story will follow the conventions of a Mary Sue. As for your comment abouhe being sent to Coates, if you had taken the time to read my second chapter you would understand that, indeed, her father was unable to carto for her due to his work;he'd always had her mother to take care of her when she was away. He decided that his daughter would be best off in a boarding school where she could settle downand Coates was right near the house Synne and her mother had shared when her father was away. I understand that the likelyhood of you actually ever reading this is near nonexistent, however against all possibilities I wanted to be sure that in the event that you decided to read further you would understand what I was thinking when I began to write this. One more thing: Noone asked me for anything and the first chapter is not a biography. It is an introduction, an insight into Synne's life, abit of background information, it was setting the scene. My sincerest apologies if that chapter upset you.**

**Bitch Please Xx**

CHAPTER 4:  
It was cold. The sheets were twisted around her and stuck to her skin from sweat. Dahlie's screams for help filled her ears, followed by a horrible, horrible crunch. And then she was screaming for her mother, screaming, shrieking, screeching and then Reana was standing next to the Micra, laughing. And then-And then someone was saying her name and shaking her, calling her and slapping her.

And then she was awake. Tiffani stood over her, concern showing in those pretty blue eyes, blonde hair loose and no makeup.

And then she was ok. Shaken from the nightmare, but ok. She nodded when Tiffani asked if she was all right and, seeing the time on her phone, decided to get up. It was almost seven o'clock. Tiffani went to bed for a last fifteen minutes of sleep before she had to get ready for class.

Synne got out the notebook that she kept in the bottom of her suitcase and wrote about the dream. When she'd finished she took a shower, the images from the nightmare vivid in her mind. She kept seeing the same part, over and over, like it was seared into her brain. Reana's face, twisted into an ugly grimace, watching the crash, laughing cruelly at the carnage. Synne shivered as she washed her hair. It was going to be a long day.

Maths with Mr Hewwit went by in much the same way as all of yesterday's classes. The main difference was that Chase wasn't in an all-day detention, and he was in her class that period. He was the only one from that group that shared the class with her -which meant she could talk (and flirt) with him all she wanted, without having to worry about Reana.

She wrote a note in her best writing and passed it across to him.

-Hey Chase-

He read the note, smiled and back a greeting of his own.

-Why, hello pretty lady-

She read it and looked across at him, with a raised eyebrow and a happy little half-smile. He winked. Trying to ignore the tingly feeling she got when he wink at her, she wrote down a question and watched him read, still with one raised brow.

-Doing anything at lunch?-

He smiled an apology at her as she read his reply,

-Detention. I'm free at recess though.-

They continued to pass notes, but Synne kept thinking about spending recess with Chase. She was so distracted by the thought that she forgot all about the nightmare, and all about Reana...

Her next class was a health class, mostly dedicated to drugs and medicines -things that 'troubled children' should know in order to make important decisions regarding their health- with Tiffani and Faith. Even distracted by thoughts of Chase and recess Synne couldn't help but notice that Faith had a marvellous sense of humour, the type that, in the brief moments between thoughts of Chase, had Synne laughing loudly enough to distract the whole class. Luckily for her it was a nice laugh, and their health teacher was really nice too. Just before the bell for recess went Faith called dibs on doing Synne's hair the next day. Synne smiled, nodding her agreement before rushing out the door as the bell rang, a grin refusing to leave her face, excitement refusing to leave her mind.


End file.
